Collin Hazell, the solider accused of strangling East Canje hairdresser Donalesa Parks and dumping her body in a garbage bag in a drain opposite his house, has not admitted to killing the woman but says he is willing to face the consequences of his actions.
Hazell, 33, a Corporal of the Guyana Defence Force, who was stationed at Base Camp Seweyo along the Soesdyke-Linden Highway, remains in police custody for further questioning about the murder.
A post-mortem examination conducted on the remains of Parks, 29, of Number Two Village, East Canje, Berbice, on Friday revealed that she died from strangulation.
According to a senior police source, Hazell, while not admitting to committing the murder, has told investigators that he will live with the consequences of his action and “whatever will be will be.”
Furthermore, the source noted, investigators have discovered an umbrella belonging to the victim in the soldier’s bedroom. Her relatives have since confirmed that Parks left home with the umbrella on Wednesday, when she was last seen alive.
Meanwhile, relatives of Hazzell had told investigators that they had last seen the woman entering his house on Wednesday evening – the night she went missing. However, according to the source, the suspect’s sister, who resides in the lower flat of the Corentyne Highway house, told investigators that the suspect was seen physically assaulting the woman on the same evening.
Parks was last seen entering the man’s house on Wednesday evening, after which he left home during the wee hours of Thursday morning and informed his sister that he was heading back to base.
The woman’s body was discovered hours after wrapped in a garbage bag in a drain located opposite the man’s house. A slipper and handbag belonging to the woman were also found in the drain.
Parks had left home on Wednesday to head to Islington, East Bank Berbice, to meet with a client to do her hair, relatives told Stabroek News on Thursday.
However, after her client, who was travelling from Linden, eventually canceled, Parks reportedly left and headed to Number 1 Village, Corentyne where she was meeting with the Hazzell at his house.
Her uncle, Mortimer Amsterdam, 56, had explained, that they were told that Parks left Islington around 1 pm on Wednesday. He stated, “She does do business with the boy (suspect). So he tell she he get detergents to sell and she going to collect it because she does always collect them things and sell it.”
According to the uncle, after Parks’ mother discovered that she did not return home on Wednesday evening she contacted an aunt and they began searching for her Thursday morning. Eventually, they arrived at the suspect’s house where his sister informed them that her brother left home early morning – several hours before they had arrived.
